


Eternal Triangle

by Tarlan



Category: Eureka (TV)
Genre: M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-18
Updated: 2017-03-18
Packaged: 2018-10-07 06:18:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10354005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: It's the wedding day of Allison and a recently saved Nathan, leading to lots of confusion for Jack.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A story for Game Of Cards http://ao3tagoftheday.tumblr.com/post/158471697905/the-ao3-tag-of-the-day-is-im-confused-but challenge (2017)  
> Tag: I’m confused but interested.
> 
> Just a quick story to meet the challenge before the deadline :)

Jack had to admit it really didn't take a lot to confuse him since moving to Eureka.

Of course it didn't help that he was a 'norm' among all these so-called geniuses, though that often worked to his advantage too. He'd stopped being surprised by how often the perpetrator of a crime thought they could get away with it simply by trying to confuse him with technobabble. And, yeah, that was a _real_ word and not one he had made up when he couldn't think of any other word to describe the gibberish falling out of so many mouths. Even his daughter spoke technobabble these days, though seeing the surprise on Nathan's face when he actually understood some math he'd spouted one day was _the best_. Admittedly, the only reason why he knew it at all was because he had spent more than half his life compiling baseball statistics, but he wasn't going to tell Nathan that. 

Still, there was rarely a day when he didn't end up confused by something going on in the town, but this time it was personal.

Nathan had turned up at his second attempt to remarry Allison only for them to announce they were cancelling the whole thing by mutual agreement. Jack was all dressed up in his best suit too; the one he wore for all official occasions - interviews, funerals... weddings - still willing to walk Allison down the aisle even though the very thought made his chest hurt. It was if the time loop incident from a few years back had never happened, though he did glance up at the sky in suspicion.

Nope. No bright flash of light followed by the shock of finding himself back in his shower.

He sat in his Cherokee and stared through the front windscreen, trying to go back through the whole day to figure out if there was some Eureka style incident behind the cancellation, but unless it was yet another time loop, one in which he wasn't an unwilling participant this time around, he had nothing. Allison was in a beautiful wedding dress and Nathan in his most expensive grey suit, both of them looking like they had just stepped off the front cover of a glossy magazine, reminding him of Abby's words long ago, of how good they looked together. As Henry asked if anyone had any reason why they shouldn't remarry, Allison and Nathan had looked at each other long and hard, then both had turned and looked at _him_ as if he was the most likely person to object.

He'd had his shot at marriage to Allison, however, and they hadn't worked out in the long run. Not that it was a complete disaster as he had a beautiful son with Allison - Thomas Nathan Carter - and they'd obviously separated amicably or he wouldn't be the one walking her down the aisle. When Allison and Nathan looked back at each other it was if they'd had personal Epiphanies, almost tripping over each other as they backed out of the wedding.

The only thing reassuring Jack even slightly was knowing he wasn't the only one confused... at first.

It had only taken a moment for the confusion to fade from Henry's eyes before he reached out to the ex-bride and groom, smiling gently in understanding. Everyone started talking at once as if they all understood what had happened. All except for him. He still had nothing.

The passenger door opened and Zoe climbed in after buckling in Jenna and Tommy. He blinked, recalling he'd promised to take the kids for the week while Allison went on her honeymoon with a newly back from the dead - or deleted - Nathan Stark.

"Okay. What just happened?" he asked Zoe because she was surprisingly mature for her age.

"The eternal triangle," Zoe replied, as if that explained anything but it did pique his interest.

"What triangle?"

"Really, dad?!" She sighed heavily. "Mom's right. You really are hopeless sometimes."

"Hey!"

She leaned over and kissed his cheek to take the sting from her words.

"Dad." She paused, a cute frown forming as she deliberated on her words. "Have you ever considered the possibility it wasn't Allison you were in love with all these years?"

He opened his mouth to deny... something... but he wasn't sure exactly what. "Well, I liked Cally and Tess but..." He trailed off as Zoe's expression changed, reminding him so much of Abby at that moment, and in particular a half-suppressed memory of when Abby asked him about his feelings towards certain other men. Whatever he had said, or didn't say, ended with them drifting apart and eventually getting a divorce. Zoe had that look of sadness and disappointment, and something clicked. The eternal triangle of him, Allison, and Nathan, except he and Allison had tried and failed, and so had Allison and Nathan, which left...

"No."

"Dad?"

"No," he repeated but less emphatically this time as he recalled the way he had walked up that aisle with Allison, focused only on Nathan in his grey suit fitting so perfectly, hugging his tall, strong frame and long legs. The perfectly groomed hair and beard looking so soft and glossy, the slight tilt of his mouth as he stared back at... _him_. Not Allison. Nathan's bride, his wife-to-be, was walking up that aisle looking radiant in a beautiful dress and flowers in her hair, and Nathan had been looking at _him_... and he'd been looking right back at Nathan. With sudden clarity he realized the tightness in his chest had not come from giving Allison away to his arch-rival, but from knowing it wasn't him who'd be halting next to Nathan in front of Henry.

"No," he repeated again more softly still, almost startling when Zoe's small hand rested on his.

"Dad?"

He looked at her as the last of the confusion evaporated, watching as she put away her cell phone while wondering when she had time to make a call. Vincent pulled up and he watched in fresh confusion as all the kids transferred to Vincent's car, stepping out only to be caught in a bear hug from Vincent before they all drove off, home presumably. Another car pulled up at that moment, a familiar, very expensive BMW, and Jack watched confused but intrigued as Nathan stepped out and walked towards him.

"Jack."

"Nathan."

"We need to talk."

"We are talking," Jack replied cagily, but he couldn't stop his eyes sliding over Nathan, feeling something familiar stir inside him; a feeling he could finally name, and it wasn't irritation. It was _want_ , pure and simple now he had cut through all the denial crap.

Nathan caught his glance and responded with one of his own, his smile widening.

In the years to come Nathan would remind him of that moment often, and of how they had both decided words were overrated. Except for on that one special day when they walked down the aisle together with eyes only for each other, and with no confusion over what they were planning, or doing, or intending to do for the rest of their lives.

END

 


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